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About Elmore County, Alabama...

Elmore County was created by an act of the Alabama State Legislature on February 15, 1866, from portions of Coosa, Autauga, and Montgomery counties. It was named for Gen. John Archer Elmore, a veteran of the American Revolution and an early settler of Alabama. Elmore County is located in what once was the heart of Upper Creek territory.

The present-day towns of Wetumpka and Tallassee, located on the banks of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers, retain the names of the former Creek towns on those sites. Tuckabatchee, one of the principal towns of the Creek Nation, was also located in Elmore County, near the town of Tallassee. After the arrival of the French in Mobile in 1702, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, sent an expedition up the Alabama River to what is now southern Elmore County to establish Fort Toulouse, completed in 1717.

Settlers from the Carolinas and Georgia began pouring into present-day Elmore County during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, complicating the already strained relationship between the state and federal governments and the Creeks. In 1812, Shawnee chief Tecumseh led a faction of the Creeks known as the Red Sticks in an uprising that culminated in the defeat of the Creek Nation by Andrew Jackson's troops at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. After the battle, the Creeks were forced to cede their land to the United States in the Treaty of Fort Jackson. Elmore County was home to Alabama's first governor, William Wyatt Bibb, who died shortly after being appointed to office.

After settlers flooded the area, it quickly became a highly successful agriculture and mercantile hub for east-central Alabama. Although no battles were fought in the county during the Civil War, in 1864 Confederate Chief of Ordnance Josiah Gorgas moved the Richmond Carbine Factory from Richmond, Virginia, to the Tallassee Manufacturing Mill along the Tallapoosa River in eastern Elmore County to evade Union troops. The mill was the only Confederate armory not destroyed during the war.

On April 27, 2011, a massive storm, causing numerous powerful tornadoes, struck the southeastern United States. More than 250 people were killed in Alabama, including six people in the community of Eclectic in Elmore County.

The waterways of Elmore County are some of the most visited recreational areas in the state. Lake Martin, on the Tallapoosa River, is one of the largest man-made lakes in the United States and offers fishing, boating, waterskiing, golf, camping, and swimming. Also located on Lake Martin is Kowaliga, the spot where Hank Williams is rumored to have written his hit song "Kaw-Liga."

The county has a total area of 657 square miles, of which 618 square miles is land and 39 square miles(5.9%) is water. The population recorded in the 1870 Federal Census was 14,477. The 2010 census recorded 79,303 residents in the county.

Neighboring counties are Coosa County (north), Tallapoosa County (northeast), Macon County (southeast), Montgomery County (south), Autauga County (west), and Chilton County (northwest).

Elmore County, Alabama Records

Alabama Genealogy & History Network has many records on our county websites. Thousands of County marriage records are located on the county websites. Many counties have cemetery listings. Please visit the county or counties of interest to you.

Birth Records - The Alabama Department of Public Health maintains records of births from 1908 to present. This was the year Alabama began keeping official birth records. You can obtain official copies of birth certificates by visiting the birth record page on their website and following the instructions. Since there are no official birth records before 1908 for births prior to that date you will need to determine birth information from census records, bible records, baptismal records, cemetery tombstones, etc.

Death Records - The Alabama Department of Public Health maintains death records after 1908 on file. This was the year Alabama began keeping official death records. You can obtain official copies of death certificates by visiting the death record page on their website and following the instructions. Since there are no official death records before 1908 for deaths prior to that date you will need to determine death information from census records, bible records, funeral home records, cemetery tombstones, etc.

Marriage Records - We have thousands of county marriage records on our county websites. These dates will assist you greatly in obtaining a copy of the original marriage license. The Alabama Department of Public Health can provide you with information for marriages that took place from 1936 to present by by visiting the marriage record page on their website and following the instructions.

All existing county marriage records for any date not listed above (and for the dates listed above for that matter) may be obtained from the county's Probate Office in which the marriage was held.

Divorce Records - The Alabama Department of Public Health maintains divorce records from 1950 to present. You can obtain official copies of devorce records by visiting the divorce record page on their website and following the instructions. Records for divorces occuring before 1950 may be obtained from the Circuit Clerk in the county where the divorce took place.